Easing into the school year with playful learning at home

Back-to-school is an exciting time for young children, and even more so for our littlest learners, who may be heading off to school for the very first time. New friends and new opportunities lie ahead. But all this ‘newness’ can be a lot. Routines, activities, and expectations may be quite different from what a child has known at home or in a previous school or childcare setting. One way to ease the transition is to complement the playful learning happening in Tools classrooms with playful learning at home.  

What play can look like at home

An important lesson children quickly learn in Tools classrooms is that if you don’t have something you want for make-believe play on hand, you can make it yourself. Making props for play is a great activity to do at home together with your children. You can use materials you already have around the house and once the props are made, you can use them to engage in creative play together. 

Is your son’s PreK class exploring our Restaurant theme? Support that play theme at home by drawing circles on a cardboard box to make a stove or filling a muffin tray with construction paper “ingredients” to build a pizza. Let him show you how it’s done! 

Maybe your daughter’s kindergarten class is exploring our Fairy Tales theme. Bring Fairy Tales home! Cut a strip of paper to form a headband and add ears to become one of the three little pigs or horns to become the Big Bad Wolf. Ask her what other ideas she has, too. We’re sure she’ll have some good ones.

In addition to the fun they’ll have with the craft activity itself, the added benefit of getting creative while making props together at home is that finished props can support your child’s imagination as they put them to use during play with relatives and friends.

Watch your child become a chef using their newly created oven to make pizza. 

When it’s ready, help them serve “customers” in the pizzeria. (This may be stuffed animals seated at the playroom table!)  

Have those headbands ready? Put them on and reenact the story of the Three Little Pigs together.

Using child-made props at home for make-believe play supports this same activity happening at school and builds children’s familiarity and confidence in engaging in high-level play with peers.

Want more? Explore our Learn@Home portal resources

Don’t worry, families, we don’t expect you to come up with all kinds of ideas for at-home learning on your own. If your child is in a Tools classroom, our Tools Learn@Home portal can help. Log in to find ideas and resources to support Make-Believe Play (PreK) and Dramatization (K) for each play theme.

You’ll also find tips for promoting self-regulation at home. In Tools classrooms, young children learn strategies to help them focus their attention, follow through on tasks they’ve started, reign in their impulses, remember multi-step directions, solve disputes with peers fairly, and more. It’s a lot to learn. They can practice these same skills at home for even more successful learning and social interactions everywhere they go. 

How to access the portal

Once logged into the Tools of the Mind online portal, select the Learn@Home tab on the left sidebar. From here, choose your child’s current classroom play theme from the dropdown menu in the upper right corner. Here you will find tools for boosting playful learning and self-regulation at home. These resources are available in Spanish, as well as English. Choose the language that’s right for your family. 

Tools Takeaways

• Using a variety of materials to engage in play at home is just one way to create home-school connections that support fun and learning. 
• Participating in similar activities at home as in school, children have:
  • More opportunities to practice their developing skills 
  • The chance to teach you what they know, and reinforce their own learning as they do 

If you need help getting started on the portal, be sure to chat with your child’s teacher about this special feature of Tools unique curriculum! 

To log into the Tools of the Mind portal, click here.